Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams 'Blurred Lines' Verdict "Kills Creativity" - Marvin Gaye "Got To Give It Up" Copyright Infringement

When you think of infringement lawsuits, you would think it has to do with an artist stealing a guitar lick or lyrics word-for-word. In the case of Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, these guys now owe $7.4 million dollars to the family of Marvin Gaye because, according to the Gaye family, Blurred Lines sounds just like Gaye's hit "Got to Give it Up." Not only that, but the family also wants them to stop the distribution of the song.

In his first interview since the verdict, Pharrell addressed the copyright suit with the Financial Times:

"Everything that's around you in a room was inspired by someone or something," Pharrell told the Times. "If you kill that there's no creativity."

As of now, Thick and Pharrell are stuck in the middle of that proverbial rock and hard place. They have yet to decide on appealing the case - although, if you're a betting man, the smart money says they will. Pharrell has been open in saying that the song has a similar sound but the notes, chord progression and lyrics are completely different.

In the same interview, Pharrell points out that in the creative process, the creator is usually "inspired by something else." He fears that this verdict will one day turn the entertainment industry into one big ball of frozen litigation.

"There was no infringement," Pharrell says. "You can't own feelings and you can't own emotions."

 Thank you @empirestatebldg for the opportunity to light up the sky yellow tonight for #InternationalDayofHappiness

A photo posted by Pharrell Williams (@pharrell) on Mar 20, 2015 at 1:10pm PDT

In an open letter to the Detroit News, the Gaye family thanked fans for standing by them on social media. They also let everyone in on the court proceedings. Apparently, the jury was not permitted to listen to "Got to Give it Up" during the trial. According to the Gaye family this "amplifies the soundness of the jury."

"Our dad's powerful vocal performance of his own song along with unique background sounds were eliminated from the trial, and the copyright infringement was based entirely on the similarity of the basic musical compositions," the letter states. "Not on 'style,' or 'feel,' or 'era,' or 'genre.'"

You can read the full letter here.

So do you think Pharrell and Thicke should be fighting this further?